Automatic drop-bottom mine car



Nov. l,- 1927.

S. H. MPCRARY AUTOMATIC DROP BOTTOM MINE CAR- Filed Feb. 27. 1926 2Sheets-Sheet 1 gwue'ntoz I SamueIHMWary Nov. 1, 1927.

s. H. M CRARY AUTOMATIC DROP BOTTOM MINE CAR Filed Feb. 27. 1926 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Q1 my Q m QNAX mm m w ,WW/Q. a Q & \k v Patented New, 1,1927;

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AUTOMATIC :PBOP-BOT'IOM; ime can.

le plicationh filedeltebruarmw, 1926. Serial No. M355.

-My said invention eletes into, improve 5 tails -Of -COHStIUgGtiOIL andarrangement ,ot

paletswwheireby various: advantages are se.

cured in ll l'liiopenationl.Ofllth ,ear i3 i char gewits contents all Iwas will be. hereinafter mjore hillysclesoriloed;and iolaimed.

tRef -i gwto the Laceompanying draw ng which ere; made apart, hereofand, lo -W i vention,

*Figure 3; alongitudinal section With the 0 discharge dOQIS lD I closednpositlon,

- Figure 4;, a similar section with the doors open, i Figure 5, a:tragmentaryv lOIlgllltlCllIlll; section= dll-ustrating a 1 modifiedform of releas- 5 ing *meohanism, and,

EBiEig-ure' 6, a section vOnT Ltl1e.line 6-f 6 of Eigure fi. a

In the drawmgs reference character 10 111; dioates theybo'dy of a mine.ca thaving wheels 1 ll-iadapted-to run upon a traek"12.p; Sidememhersplg extend longitudinally of the car anel-form bearings for;axles 114,, upon which i the Wheels are mounted. t The ear--10 isprovided with a lbottomqasi sembly comprising one 0111 moredischargedoors 'pivota1ly mounted Jhy means Eliot' brackets or strap hangers-16uponl trans: versely and longitudinally: disposed shafts 17 Said shafts;17- are mounted intheside i memhers 'lii adjacent the loweredgethereotsoythat 'the door's l5 When disposed infhori- 'zontal positionwvilhconstitute a COIllllIltl-l ous bottom wfor the ear; but wh ich iwhen released will permit thew eontentiot the car i todischargetherefrombygi'avityu Forfthel purpose of illustration I have shown three dischargedoors, howeveiyany number be) employed and means is'gprovided .formaintaining these doorsinthe elosed posig tion; l l "*Thedoors 15areadapted to loe held in elosediposition by means oflatches, or locks18 mounted on the sidememhers 13, one jaeentthe tront edge ofthe dooriatleach Fig ure-l is a sideu elevation-rot. an line 5 carillustnatingi theapplication of my in track 12.

I l I at 24 anchis adapted to. be mocked on Eigure 2amendgelexzatiorrwith portion bttoken away" to expose 2 the,' releasinglever,,

' side otthe ear and thesaid doors areprefer-vfimentsain-mine:carstrommhiehic031orlother ore :may be lautomaticallydischarged and 3 Consists variousi improvements inthe 1 de- ,1

ly-n tched at th o t r :CQPIEES we isiprovi led With a eentrallyi d he.e 9 tse le ll e h rdly exte d ng tongue 19 wh-ichiis dapt lto he v leeee byivt ebq I 1 operat ng lever, the long ar similar referenceeharaeters ;indicate similar i .an .t W M ezgtends through a hraeket22and 'OlllZ JtO h d tth writ onelz tp iby in i cl n op ati g l me t2dmeunt lonl i ;The operating levee is; pivoted ea-side pivot the arm 21riding upward ontthe operating element as the ear is moved along it thefracl Iheoute 3ond tthe g igi 5 5m 21 of the operating leyenispreferably provided with a eight 25in order to normallyi hold jthe leverin 1 position v for] holdin'g the doors, closed. l I

The latches orr loeliing elements l8; are pr oyided ith rearwardlyjextending ppm atmg arms and are alsoPreferablyiprdzidyd 8O withthickened or eighted portions -,;26fin order that they may be normallymaintained in full released position. In order to": provent-,,t11ei-latehes fr m ,t o ta ting it s es members of; the ear they are:further pro; 'vided, with bosses or spacing elements which} may beiformed eitherintegrally wi hiqor separately from the latches. 1

1 In the operation ;ot the deviee thev car loaded with eoalor other oreis moved along; the track in the direction of thearrow shown" In Figurel until,the operatingv arnL Qlj en'- gages and tides up a the inclinedoperating element 23, whereupon the short armpihthe operatingleverfwillbe' moved frombeneath thetongue-lQof the rear door 15permitting StllClClOOl' to drop to substantially iyeitical position. .Atthe same, time the; forward edge of theldoor Will force the rearwardly iextendinguarms ofthe looks l8' upwardly to release the next succeedingdoor; and flother rearwardly located doors .Will be ireleased in thesame manner and permit the load to he discharged Further IHOVQHIGBQ, ofthe, car along the track Will bring the forward, doogi; into engagementwith the closing, bl ocl26 in the center of the tizack WllltllfizVlll jsuecessively raise the doors to horizontal, position holding each door inthis position until the forward edge of each succeeding door acts as alever to move the latch into engagement beneath the rear edge of thepreceding door to pull the same in closed position. The door at the rearend of the car having the tongue 19 will pass last over the closingblock and the short arm 20 of the operating lever will engage saidtongue and hold the door in horizontal position.

Instead of the means for releasing the rear door of the car I may useother desired releasing mechanism such as I have shown in Figures 5 and(i. Said mechanism comprises a pair of latching elements or hooks 27fastened one at each side of the rear door, for co-operation withco-operating latches or locks 28 pivoted at 2-9 having rearwardlyextending arms 30. A shaft 31 extends transversely and horizontalthrough the side members 13 and beneath the rearwardly extending arms29, and cams 32 are mounted one under each arm for rocking the latches28 upon their pivots to move them out of engagement with the latchingelements or hooks 27. The shaft 31 projects outwardly at one side of thecar to a position beyond'the other parts of the car and a dependinglever 33 is fixed thereon. An operating element 3 1 is mounted on thetrack in upright position in the path of movement of the lever 33 sothat said lever will be rocked to substantially horizontal position whenpassing over the same, and thus cause the majorportion of the cams toengage the rearwardly extending arms 29 of the latches and elevate themto release the rear door.

A second operating element 36 is'provided for rocking the lever 33 andthe associated cams 32 to retract the latches and permitthe doors toswing to closed position whereupon the lever is moved downward under theaction of gravity and latches 28 engage the hooks 27 and hold the doorclosed. This operating element is placed at a point along the track sothat it will engage the lever 33 at the moment the door is slightlybelow its normal locked position and will swing the latches out of thepath of the door and beneath the door to maintain it in closed position.I

In order to reinforce the doors 15 I preferably provide a pair of bracesor angle irons 35 mounted longitudinally of the car beneath each doorand the depending por- V tions of said braces or angle irons co-operatewith the closing block 26 for centering the door during the closingoperation.

Bumpers and draw bars of any desired type may be used and it will beobvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made inthe device without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I,therefore, do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification, but only as set forth in the appendingclaims.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Releasing means for the dumping doors of a mine car comprising alatch mounted in aposition to engage the rear edge of a door when thesame is in horizontal position, said latch being adapted to be actuatedby another door for releasing the first door and for securing the samein closed position, a latch for holding the second door in closedposition, a shaft mounted adjacent said latch and a cam fixed on saidshaft and adapted when the shaft is rocked to operate the latch torelease the door, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a mine car bottom assembly operable to permitthe discharge of the contents of the car, and comprising a plurality ofdoors pivoted adjacent their forward edges transversely of the body, ofa plurality of latches mounted adjacent each side of the body andadjacent each door in position to engage the rear edges of the doorswhen they are in substantially horizontal position, each succeeding doorbeing adapted to actuate the latches adjacent its forward edge forreleasing the preceding door and for moving said latches into engagementtherewith, for securing the door in closed position, latching mechanismfor holding the door at the rear end of the car in closed position, ashaft tranversely and horizontally mounted adjacent said latchingmechanism, cams on said shaft for releasing said latching mechanism, alever-depending from said shaft, a track, and an upstanding operatingelement adjacent said track for rocking said depending cams and releasethe rear door and a closure block mounted on said track for swingingsaid doors to closed position, substantially as set forth.

3. The structure set forth in claim 2 and a second upstanding operatingelement for oscillating said cams to permit the door to be closed,substantially as set forth.

1. In a dumping car, a pivotally mounted dumping door, a latch forholding said door in closed position said latch having a forwardlyextending arm, a shaft mounted adjacent. said latch and projectingoutwardly beyond the side of the car, and a cam fixed on said shaft andarranged to operate the latch to move it to position to release the doorwhen the shaft is oscillated, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination in a dumping car of a pivotally mounted dumping door,a latch for holding said door in closed position said latch having aforwardly extending arm, a shaft mounted adjacent said latch andprojecting outwardly beyond the side of the car, a cam fixed on saidshaft and arranged to operate lever to operate the the latch to move itto position to release the door when the shaft is oscillated, a track,and a pair of upright elements mounted in spaced relation along saidtrack, one of which upright elements being arranged; in

position to perform the dumping operation and the other being arrangedin position 'for looking the door in closed position, substantially asset forth.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set 1 my hand and seal at Knoxville,Tennessee, this 24th day of February, A. D. nineteen hundred andtwenty-six.

SAMUEL H. MOCRARY.

